Plug-and-socket type connectors



y 5, 1966 w. CHANDLER PLUG-AND-SOCKET TYPE CONNECTORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16, 1964 IN l E N TOR WHLTER 19mm MM {mm July 5, 1966 w. CHANDLER PLUG-ANDSOCKET TYPE CONNECTORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 16, 1964 INVENTOR WALTER CHANDLER MAM H. 5%

/N 1/6 N TOR United States Patent 8/63 6 Claims. (Cl. 339-63) This invention relates to plug-and-socket type connectors and has for an object to provide improved connectors of a construction permitting the contacts to be attached to the conductor wires before the assembly of the contacts with the connector body, while at the same time ensuring long creepage paths.

According to the present invention each connector member comprises two axially adjacent body members having through bores for each contact, these through bores being each provided with a widened portion at the abutment surface of the two body parts, and each contact being provided with a flange or like shoulder, the through bore in at least one of the body portions having a crosssection greater than that of the flange or the like, the cross-section of the bore, at least in the vicinity of the abutment surface, being greater than that of the contact, and the contact is, in the assembled connector member, surrounded by an insulating sleeve accommodated in this portion of the bore and extending to both sides of the surface of abutment, the thickness of the sleeve being suificient to prevent the flange or the like from leaving the widened portion of the bore. Preferably the crosssection of the bore in one or both body members is (greater throughout the length of the bore than the cross section of the flange portion of the connector so as to permit the connector without the sleeve to pass through said bore.

In the accompanying drawing,

FIGURE 1 is an axial section through one form of a two-pin connector according to the invention,

FIGURE 2 is an exaggerated fragmentary section drawn to a larger scale,

FIGURES 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d are fragmentary elevations showing four alternative forms of contact flange or shoulder portions, and

FIGURE 4 is an elevation, partly in section, of a connector of modified construction.

Referring now first to FIGURES l and 2, the connecltor body shown comprises a front moulding 1 and a rear moulding 2 of plastic or rubber-like material, but it should be understood that in the construction of this figure rigid mouldings and even mouldings of metal may be alternatively employed. Mouldings 1 and 2 are held against a shoulder 3a in a shell 6 by a locking ring 4. Contacts 5, which are shown as pin contacts, are each provided with a circumferential, shoulder-forming ridge 7 and accommodated in aligned axial bores 1a, 2a, of the two mouldings 1 and 2. These bores have a diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the ridge portion 7 of the contact and are each provided with shoulder-forming enlargements 1b, 2b, at the abutment surface 9 of the mouldings 1 and 2. In use, each contact is soldered to the core 8:: of a wire 8 which has been pushed through the moulding 2, and the contact-and-wire assembly is then covered with an insulating sleeve 6 of polypropylene or other resilient or flexible insulating material which extends across the ridge portion 7 in both directions by lengths greater than that of the mouldings 1 and 2 respectively and overlaps the insulation of the attached wire 8. The wire is then pulled back to cause the ridge portion 7 which, due to its being covered with the insulating sleeve 6, is now of greater diameter than 3,259,871 Patented July 5, 1966 that of the through bore 2a, to rest in the shoulder-forming end portion 2b of the moulding 2, and the frontmoulding 1 is placed over the contacts from the front. The assembled mouldings 1 and -2 are then inserted into the shell 3 and secured by the nut 4.

It will be readily appreciated that the presence of the sleeves 6 prevents creepage along the abutment surface 9 and thus greatly improves the insulating qualities of the connector, so much so that if the sleeve extends sufficiently beyond the thickness of the mouldings 1 and 2, the mouldings may, if desired, be made of metal. The form of the ridge provided on the contacts is by no means critical, and a number of alternative forms are illustrated in FIGURES 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d.

It is not always necessary for the insulating sleeve to extend through the whole thickness of both the front and the back moulding of the connector body. Thus FIG- U-RE 4 shows an embodiment in which the sleeve 16 extends throughout the thickness of the rear moulding 12 but only through part of the thickness of the front moulding 11, which in this case must consist of insulating material. The ridge -17 in this embodiment is provided with an inclined shoulder only at the side facing the rear moulding 12 and forms a rectangular shoulder at the side facingv the front moulding 11, on which the latter shoulder is supported without the interposition of any part of the sleeve 16. This construction offers the advantage that the sleeve 16 may be of rigid insulating material, in which case it may be placed over the wire 8 before its attachment to the contact 15, but after the wire has been put through the bore of the moulding 12. After the wire has been attached to the contact, the sleeve 16 is moved forward to cover the rear end of the contact and the shoulder-forming portion 17.

While the illustrated connector elements are shown as pin contacts, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, that the invention can be equally applied to socket-type contacts. Furthermore while in the case of FIGURE 1 and similar cases a sleeve of resiliently flexible material is preferably employed, a longitudinally divide-d rigid sleeve could be employed when creep protection is less important, or -a sleeve of thermoplastic material may .be injection-moulded round the contact after its attachment to the core 8a of .a wire threaded through the bore in the body member 2.

What I claim is:

1. An electrical plug-in connector member comprising in combination at least one contact two body members secured to each other so as to abut each other on an abutment surface transverse to the plug-in direction, said body members having for each contact aligned through bores extending in the plug-in direction, and jointly constituting a contact-accommodation chamber having a widened portion at the abutment surface, each contact including a shaft portion accommodated in such chamber .and having a shoulder-forming flange accommodated in said widened portion of the chamber, said chamber having, at least in the vicinity of the abutment surface, a diameter greater than the diameter of the shaft portion of the contact, an undivided sleeve of insulating material so arranged as to encase a part of the length of the contact extending across the abutment surface and including the flange of the contact, said sleeve consisting of a material of suflicient deformability to permit the sleeve to be applied to the contact and the thickness of the sleeve being sufficient to prevent the flange from leaving the widened portion of the chamber.

2. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sleeve is detachably mounted on the contact.

3. A :plug-and-socket connector, having two connector members, each constructed as claimed in claim 1.

4. A connector member as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of at least one contact, accommodated in such contact-accommodation chamber, is constructed as a wire attachment end, the connector member including an insulated wire having a lead projecting into and attached to said wire attachment end, and wherein the sleeve of insulating material is so arranged as to extend onto the insulated wire beyond the wire-attachment end of the contact.

5. A connector member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-section of the through how in at least one body member is sufficiently dimensioned throughout the length of the bore to permit the contact without the sleeve to pass through said bore.

6. A connector member as claimed in claim 5, wherein one end of at least one contact, accommodated in such contact-accommodation chamber, is constructed as a wire 4 5 I attachment end, the connector member including an insulated wire having a lead projecting into and attached to said wire attachment end, and wherein the sleeve of in-. sulating material is so arranged as to extend onto the insulated wire beyond the wire-attachment end of the contact.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK A. CLIFFORD, Primary Examiner. w. DONALD MILLER, Examiner. 

1. AN ELECTRICAL PLUG-IN CONNECTOR MEMBER COMPRISING IN COMBINATION AT LEAST ONE CONTACT TWO BODY MEMBERS SECURED TO EACH OTHER SO AS TO ABUT EACH OTHER ON AN ABUTMENT SURFACE TRANSVERSE TO THE PLUG-IN DIRECTION, SAID BODY MEMBERS HAVING FOR EACH CONTACT ALIGNED THROUGH BORES EXTENDING IN THE PLUG-IN DIRECTION, AND JOINTLY CONSTITUTING A CONTACT-ACCOMMODATION CHAMBER HAVING A WIDENED PORTION AT THE ABUTMENT SURFACE, EACH CONTACT INCLUDING A SHAFT PORTION ACCOMMODATED IN SUCH CHAMBER AND HAVING A SHOULDER-FORMING LFANGE ACCOMMODATED IN SAID WIDENED PORTION OF THE CHAMBER, SAID CHAMBER HAVING, AT LEAST IN THE VICINITY OF THE ABUTMENT SURFACE, 